Leaflet distributed during the 6TH ANTIMILITARIST AND NON-VIOLENT MARCH FROM TRIESTE TO AVIANO (25 July - 4 August) promoted by the Radical Party (Milan Federation)

WE ARE THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE 6TH ANTIMILITARIST AND NON-VIOLENT MARCH FROM TRIESTE TO AVIANO (25 July - 4 August).

The following statements has been prepared by the American participants in the march.

Why march against militarism? Consider it this way:

Militarism is like heroine - easy to get into, hard to kick.

Everyone says we'd be better off without it - presidents, politicians, professors. Everyone says we could make better use of the money: we could have hospitals instead of cemeteries. This is true in the United States and in every other country in the world.

Bu the governments are hooked and can't break the habit. That's why they need a little help from their citizens.

We have been doing this for many years in the U.S. and our friends have been doing this in most of the western countries. We hope the same will happen in every country which has the habit - which means almost every country in the world.

Marching isn't the only thing we do:

- We encourage young men to file as conscientious objectors and help them work this through with their draft boards.

- We help men in the armed forces find legal ways for discharge, and - for these who think this is right for them to do - we help them to disert.

None of this is easy - but many tens of thousands of Americans have gone these ways.

No one can go jail for you, no one can go into exile for you. But if you lose an arm in Vietnam - in a war that everyone says is a mistake - it will be your arm. And you could be the last American killed in that murder factory.

The Italian authorities have forbidden us to march on the highway past your base. This may be because of pressure from the American authorities. But whatever the cause, to prevent citizens from walking on a public road because of what they say is cowardly. The suppression of free speech is what they do in the dictatorships we are supposed to arming against. And if we do as they do - what's the big arms race about anyway?

The pacifist Movement in Italy does not say "Yankee go home" but "Leave the army and stay with us as a friend".

JOIN OUR FESTIVAL IN AVIANO FRIDAY EVENING AT 8 P.M. IN THE FOOTBALL FIELD AND BRING YOUR VOICES AND INSTRUMENTS